The expansive growth of electronics based on organic materials has lead to the development of a number of significant applications, ranging from flexible low-cost photovoltaics (OPV), electronic paper, and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and sensors. In particular, owing to the diverse nature of materials, device architectures, and fabrication approaches, the development of sensors is poised to have a significant contribution to modern society. Sensors based on organic electronics are being envisioned as low-cost, single- or multiple use diagnostic devices that may be implemented for diverse applications in environmental monitoring, military defense, and preventative medical care. This innovation is driven via industrial advancements in high-throughput printing of such electronics, leading to ever-decreasing cost-per-unit area on a potentially flexible substrate. Another benefit arising from the use of electrical current-based sensing is that the signal may be easily read via supporting electronics, thus eliminating the need for bulky excitation sources and photodetectors used in optical detection systems. Sensors fabricated with organic materials have already demonstrated the ability to detect numerous analytes of interest in vapor systems, and the recent adaptation to aqueous environments indicates their potential for complex biological detection. In this review, we describe the recent developments of sensors based on organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) and show that these devices can be adapted as biosensors. Particular attention is paid to the fabrication and development of systems able to detect analytes in complex media relevant for biological species.

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